Osceola Drafting Emergency Toxic Material Plan

KISSIMMEE — If a chlorine storage tank bursts on your property, you will be surrounded by county officials wanting to help. But try to dump a can of toxic paint thinner and you're on your own.

Handling hazardous materials long has been a problem for Osceola officials. It used to take crews days to clean up chemical emergencies, from spills to unidentified containers found along roadsides.

The biggest enemy of work crews, emergency officials have said, is ignorance. County officials said Wednesday they are solving that problem.

But despite much talk recently, residents still don't have a place to safely dispose of hazardous household chemicals - paint thinner, varnish and insecticide, for example.

County commissioners this week decided to use state money from one program that will help them handle chemical emergencies. But they

missed a deadline for applying for a separate state grant to help build a storage building where homeowners can bring household chemicals.

Acting Public Safety Director Jerry Testa said Wednesday the county is making progress handling chemical emergencies. Officials have found private companies that will quickly respond to chemical spills, he said.

Company response times average about two hours and one recent situation would have cost between $3,000 and $5,000, Testa said. Businesses or homeowners responsible for the problem are charged for cleanup, he said.

Testa said the state money will help him set plans for each Osceola location where dangerous chemicals are used. The plans are part of a state effort to catalog hazardous chemicals.

Plans will include evacuation areas and routes, nearby hospitals and sources of help, Testa said.

Officials expect more hazardous chemicals to be used as Osceola grows.

But as officials plan for disasters, plans for disposing of hazardous chemicals remain on hold.

Environmental Services Director Terry Johnson said he will try to negotiate with Kissimmee officials for a place in city limits for a storage shed.

In other counties, residents bring chemicals to sheds and the county pays a company to periodically haul them to special dumps.

Osceola missed a Jan. 31 deadline to apply for up to $100,000 in state grant money to help with the problem, Johnson said, and more money won't be available for a year. That means residents will have to do what they've always been doing with toxic chemicals.

''Right now, they're holding them,'' he said.

But County Development Director Jack Shannin said he has proposals from three private companies willing to design a hazardous waste collection program for Osceola. He said it will take action from county commissioners to get things moving.

Shannin said it wouldn't have made sense to apply for grant money because county officials weren't sure what they wanted to do. The county will wind up paying for the bulk of a collection program anyway, he said.